Just a few short months after Michael Angelakos announced that he would be giving away Passion Pit‘s latest album to those who tweeted in support of mental health, the musician has spoken in further depth about his struggles with his own health.
In a series of tweets posted yesterday, Angelakos appeared to announce a hiatus from music entirely. “Until it is safer and healthier for us to be advocates, to be a writers, producers, and performers, I simply cannot continue making music,” he tweeted.
Angelakos, who came out as gay in 2015, later clarified in a statement to Pitchfork that Passion Pit aren’t throwing in the towel altogether, but that he’ll cease making music as a “commercialised artist.”
In that same statement he opened up further, revealing that “endless promotion and touring… have nearly killed me”.
“I cannot continue to operate in this space, this industry, due to the way that it functions and treats people that work for it or create within it,” says Angelakos. “It does nothing to promote the health required in order to produce the work it sells.
“People often throw these words around casually as well,” he continues. “But when I say that these requirements have nearly killed me, have killed many people, and continue to kill people; I am not stating a fact. I am speaking from a very real and personal place. I live this, and I watch other artists struggle with the friction between their health and their art.
“Music is a luxury. We are so lucky to have it. And if it is not a luxury, as people are telling me otherwise, saying it is absolutely essential to our culture, then I’d like to see systems in place that reflect this sentiment, not just financially. Protecting health is the first step in maintaining a culture’s artistic output.”
You can read his full statement here.
